JP4219059B2 - Goods transfer device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a container transfer conveyor for supplying a predetermined number of articles that are continuously supplied to a processing device such as a caser.
[0002]
[Prior art]
There is a transfer device (see Japanese Patent No. 2553999, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-278721) that continuously receives a predetermined number of products supplied continuously and intermittently transfers them to a processing station. Each of these is provided with two sets of attached chains that support the product, and the two sets of attached chains are controlled so that the products can be continuously received even during intermittent operation.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described prior art, two sets of attached chains are independently controlled by separate driving means, so that a plurality of driving means are necessarily required. In addition, there is a problem that a control circuit for controlling these driving means becomes complicated.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of this situation, the present invention has an object to provide a container transfer conveyor that can receive articles continuously even during intermittent operation with a simple configuration and a simple configuration compared to the prior art. It is.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an article conveyor for conveying articles, an endless conveyor for intermittently transferring a predetermined number of articles conveyed on the article conveyor to the next process, and supplying the endless conveyor. And a stopper for stopping the article conveyed on the article conveyor on the upstream side of the endless conveyor when the detecting means detects a predetermined number of articles. Includes a front engagement member that engages with the front surface of the article, a rear engagement member that is engaged with the rear surface of the article, and that can move forward and backward between a position that engages with the article and a position that does not engage with the article. An advancing / retreating means for advancing and retreating the combined member. When it is detected that a predetermined number of articles have been accumulated by engaging the front engaging member, the rear engaging member is advanced to the engaging position, and then the endless conveyor Moving Employing the technical means that more transferring articles of a predetermined number to the next step.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A specific embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the entire robot caser provided with a case transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of FIG.
[0007]
The robot caser 1 is disposed in parallel with the container transport conveyor 3 for continuously transporting the containers 2 in two rows, the robot 5 for holding the containers 2 in the plastic case 4 supplied and holding them, and the container transport conveyor 3. A case transfer device (article transfer device) 6 is provided for transferring the plastic case 4 to the casing position three cases at a time. In this embodiment, the robot 5 grips twelve containers 2 and places four casings in the plastic case 4 supplied by the case transfer device 6 three by three. The case transfer device 6 includes a case transport conveyor 7 for transporting the plastic case 4 from the upstream, a chain conveyor (endless conveyor) 8 disposed below the case transport conveyor 7, and three plastic cases 4 supplied to the chain conveyor 8. The sensor 9 which detects that it was done, and the stopper 10 which stops the plastic case 4 conveyed on the case conveyance conveyor 7 by the signal from the sensor 9 are provided.
[0008]
As shown in FIG. 3, two case conveyors 7 are arranged at a predetermined interval and are always rotated by a driving means (not shown).
[0009]
Next, the case transfer device will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
The chain conveyor 8 is disposed below the transfer surface of the case transfer conveyor 7. The machine frame 11 has a first shaft 12 provided with driving sprockets 14, 15, 16, 17 and driven sprockets 18, 19, 20, A second shaft 13 provided with 21 is rotatably arranged. (Refer to FIG. 2) The sprockets 14 and 17 are fixed to the first shaft 12 and rotate together with the first shaft 12, and the sprockets 15 and 16 are provided with the gears 22 and 23 fixed so as to be rotatable with respect to the first shaft 12. It has been. The sprockets 18, 19, 20, and 21 are provided to be rotatable with respect to the second shaft 13.
[0010]
A third shaft 24 having gears 25 and 26 fixed thereto is disposed at a slight distance from the first shaft 12, and the gears 25 and 26 are respectively engaged with gears 22 and 23 that are rotatably provided on the first shaft 12. Yes.
[0011]
A sprocket 27 and a gear 28 are fixed to the first shaft 12 on the outside of the machine frame 11, and the sprocket 27 is connected to a sprocket 30 fixed to a rotating shaft of a motor 29 via a chain. Is transmitted to the first shaft 12.
[0012]
The gear 28 meshes with a gear 31 that is rotatably arranged on the third shaft 24. A housing 32 is provided on the rear surface of the gear 31 (the lower side in FIG. 4 and the left side in FIG. 6). A worm gear 33 is fixed to the third shaft 24 on the outside of the gear 31 and meshes with a gear 35 fixed to a shaft 34 that penetrates the housing 32. A handle 36 for adjusting the phase between the first shaft 12 and the third shaft 24 is detachably attached to the shaft 34.
[0013]
When the first shaft 12 is rotated by the drive motor 29, the sprockets 14, 17 and the gear 28 are rotated together. Then, the rotation of the gear 28 is transmitted to the gear 31. When the gear 31 rotates, the housing 32 rotates, and the shaft 34 penetrating the housing 32 also rotates. This rotation rotates the worm gear 33 via the gear 35 fixed to the shaft 34 and rotates the third shaft 24. The third shaft 24 rotates and the gears 25 and 26 rotate to rotate the gears 22 and 23 provided on the first shaft 12 to rotate the sprockets 15 and 16.
[0014]
A chain 37 is hung between the sprocket 14 and the sprocket 18, a chain 38 is hung between the sprocket 15 and the sprocket 19, a chain 39 is hung between the sprocket 16 and the sprocket 20, and a chain 40 is hung between the sprocket 17 and the sprocket 21. . The chain 37 and the chain 40 have a front attachment 41 (a front engagement member) that engages with the front surface of the plastic case 4, and the chain 38 and the chain 39 have a rear attachment 42 (a rear engagement member) that engages with the rear surface of the plastic case 4. ) Are provided at predetermined intervals.
[0015]
The front attachment 41 is fixed to a support member 43 provided on the chain 37 and the chain 40, and the rear attachment 42 is swingably provided on a shaft 45 provided on a support member 44 provided on the chain 38 and the chain 39. Yes.
[0016]
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the chain 37 and the chain 40 and the chain 38 and the chain 39 are provided with four sets of front attach 41 and rear attach 42, respectively. The case 4 is supported. Further, the plastic case 4 of three cases is supported by the front attach 41 and the rear attach 42. Further, the front attachment 41 and the rear attachment 42 are intermittently moved synchronously while maintaining the phase set by the drive motor 29, and sequentially move in the casing position, the accumulation position, and the standby position.
[0017]
A cam follower 46 is provided on the rear attach 42 and is always urged to the cam 47 by urging means (not shown). The cam 47 has a fixed cam 48 on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the plastic case 4 and an elevating cam 49 on the upstream side. The elevating cam 49 is connected to the rod of the elevating cylinder 50 and can be raised and lowered by the operation of the elevating cylinder 50.
[0018]
When the plastic case 4 is stacked, the rear attachment 42 is positioned below the transfer surface of the case transfer conveyor 7, and when the sensor 9 detects that three cases are stacked from the front attachment 41, the rod of the lift cylinder 50 is extended and the lift cam 49. And the rear attachment 42 is positioned above the conveyance surface of the case conveyance conveyor 7.
[0019]
A second sensor 51 is provided on the upstream side of the sensor 9, and the stopper 10 is lowered by a signal from the second sensor 51 to stop the plastic case 4. When the size of the conveyed plastic case 4 is changed, the interval between the front attach 41 and the rear attach 42 is changed by adjusting the phases of the chains 37, 40 and the chains 38, 39. When the handle 36 is attached to the shaft 34 and rotated while the drive motor 29 is stopped, the third shaft 24 can be rotated while the first shaft 12 is stopped via the gear 35 and the worm gear 33, thereby The distance between the front attachment 41 and the rear attachment 42 is adjusted according to the size of the plastic case 4 to be changed.
[0020]
The operation of the robot caser 1 according to the above configuration will be described.
The containers 2 that are continuously transported in two rows on the container transport conveyor 3 are gripped by the robot 5 12 by 12 each. On the other hand, the plastic case 4 is transferred to the casing position by the case transfer device 6 three cases at a time, and the four cases are simultaneously carried in the plastic case 4 stopped at the casing position by the robot 5 and then conveyed downstream. The
[0021]
Next, the operation of the case transfer device 6 will be described.
When the case transfer device 6 receives the plastic case 4, the front attachment 41 stands by at a position above the conveyance surface of the case conveyance conveyor 7, and the rear attachment 42 stands by at a position below the conveyance surface of the case conveyance conveyor 7.
[0022]
The first plastic case 4 conveyed on the case conveying conveyor 7 comes into contact with the front attach 41 and is stopped at that position. At this time, the sensor 9 detects that the plastic case 4 has been conveyed, and sends a signal to a control device (not shown), which stores that one case of the plastic case 4 has been conveyed. Subsequently, the plastic case 4 conveyed is similarly detected by the sensor 9 and stored in the control device, and comes into contact with the rear surface of the plastic case 4 conveyed first and stops. When the sensor 9 detects the plastic case 4 conveyed to the third case, the control device extends the rod of the elevating cylinder 50 and raises the elevating cam 49 so that the rear attachment 42 is positioned above the conveying surface of the case conveying conveyor 7. Let Then, by rotating the motor 29, the chain conveyor 8 (chains 37 to 40) is rotated to transfer the three-case plastic case 4 supported between the front attachment 41 and the rear attachment 42 to the casing position, and at the same time the next front The attach 41 and the rear attach 42 are moved to the accumulation position, the rod of the lift cylinder 50 is contracted, and the lift cam 49 is lowered.
[0023]
Note that position detection means (not shown) is connected to the second shaft 13 to check whether or not the rear attachment 42 has stopped at a fixed position when the chain conveyor 8 is moved. Further, when the plastic case 4 is detected by the second sensor 51 during the movement of the chain conveyor 8, the stopper 10 is lowered and the plastic case 4 is stopped. When the accumulated plastic case 4 is transferred to the casing position, the casing is performed by the robot 5 and at the same time the stopper 10 is raised, and the accumulation of the plastic case 4 is started in the same manner as the accumulation operation described above. Move to position. At this time, the plastic case 4 waiting for the casing position after the casing is finished is conveyed downstream.
[0024]
As described above, according to the present invention, the rear attachment 42 is accumulated at the same time as the casing is completed by a simple configuration in which the rear attachment 42 can be moved forward and backward to the upper position and the lower position of the conveyance surface on which the article (plastic case 4) is conveyed. Since the articles can be transferred, the capacity of the stacking operation can be improved, and the capacity of the casing operation can be improved. In the present invention, it is needless to say that the articles to be accumulated are not limited to the plastic case 4 but can be applied to various items such as cardboard cases and containers. Further, as an apparatus for processing the transferred article, an answerer or the like can be used.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
Based on the above configuration, the present invention can receive products continuously even during intermittent operation with a simple configuration compared to the conventional configuration.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall schematic plan view showing an entire robot caser provided with a case transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an overall schematic front view of the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a main part of the case transfer device of the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of a main part of a case transfer device for explaining phase adjustment according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a front view of the same embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a side view of the same embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a side view showing the main part of the case transfer device of the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Robot Caser 2 ... Container 3 ... Container Conveyor 4 ... Plastic Case 5 ... Robot 6 ... Case Transfer Device (Article Transfer Device)
7. Case transport conveyor 8 Chain conveyor (band-free conveyor)
9. Sensor 10. Stopper 11. Machine frame 12. First shaft 13 ... Second shaft 14-21 ... Sprocket 22, 23 ... Gear 24 ... Third shaft 25, 26 ... Gear 27 ... sprocket 28 ... gear 29 ... motor 30 ... sprocket 31 ... gear 32 ... housing 33 ... worm gear 34 ... shaft 35 ... gear 36 ... handle 37 to 40 ... chain 41 ... front attachment (Front engagement member)
42... Rear attachment (rear engagement member)
43, 44 ... Support member 45 ... Shaft 46 ... Cam follower 47 ... Cam 48 ... Fixed cam 49 ... Lifting cam 50 ... Lifting cylinder 51 ... Second sensor

Claims (1)

Article conveyor for conveying articles, endless conveyor for intermittently transferring a predetermined number of articles conveyed on the article conveyor to the next process, detection means for detecting articles supplied to the endless conveyor, and detection means And a stopper for stopping the article conveyed on the article conveyor on the upstream side of the endless conveyor when the predetermined number of articles are detected, and the endless conveyor engages with the front surface of the article. And a rear engagement member that is engaged with the rear surface of the article and is capable of moving back and forth between a position that engages with the article and a position that does not engage with the article, and an advance / retreat means that moves the rear engagement member forward and backward. When it is detected that a predetermined number of articles are accumulated by engaging with the front engagement member, the rear engagement member is advanced to the engagement position, and then the endless conveyor is moved to move the predetermined number of articles to the next step. Transport to Article transfer device, characterized in that.

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